Peace in Our Time

This peace sign is being "reserved" for a very special project - can you guess which one?

Love the burst of color on these chili peppers- just in time for cinco de mayo and be great on stickers "From The Garden Of..."

Classic Fleur Di Li - we added a red one as the others have been so popular. I want to use this for my holiday wrapping paper next year.

Custom image done in honor of Lily's 8th birthday and her skating party! This would be great on holiday wrapping paper too!

Candy Table, So Sweet!

New Hampton Paper Candy Bar Wrappers

Square Dot Stickers on Candy Bags

Who wouldn't love a bag full of Candy?

Love these new photos submitted by a client of a recent candy table they set up at their child's school. The gumball image was the perfect choice!

RIP

Last Friday morning I entered my home office and panic set in as I heard a loud noise coming from the computer. The fan had gone into overdrive- never a good sound. I immediately yelled to tech support aka, my husband Greg (yes, he is also the exec chef in the house too) and the news wasn't good. We were too late. DOA. So, its now been 4 days and countless ours and minutes that I have not had a computer to work on. I can really now admit I am addicted to my computer. I had the DTs on Saturday and spent a lot of time wandering aimlessly around my house over the weekend. I thought, oh, I'll do this only to realize it required a computer. So for now, I am on borrowed time and a borrowed laptop. Hoping my new one arrives tomorrow, I don't know how much longer I will last without it! My fingers are crossed that I can retrieve all my files. New posts coming once I am up and running on Thomas' birthday party plans ( you wont believe what we have planned!), updates on the house, new images, photos from the Hampton Paper Shoot, and great ideas for Mother's Day.

Click: Sneak Peak From Recent Photo Shoot

Ironic that I would own a cookbook since I cant cook but this is on one of my Barefoot Contessa cookbooks as she is my favorite. I have my personal chef, aka my husband, Greg, cook up these wonderful recipes. Fortunately, he loves to cook and is a huge fan of Ina's too!

We wanted to capture some great back to school ideas here. Jackson loves to play his guitar (mostly to Billy Joel songs) so this is the image he chose for his journal.

My friend Kim's daughter loves this pink crown so we did a back to school for the girls who love pink!

Luggage tags are great for backpacks and lunchboxes. My favorite ones are from LL Bean as they hold up all year long. This skateboard image shouldn't be overlooked - the colors are so bright!

We introduced these Dear Santa cards 2 years ago and they have been a best seller. I hear that mom's like to keep them so they can remember what their little ones had on the top of their wish list each year.

This is the image that Lucy painted of my front door for my "New Address" cards. We had "Mika Established 2010" written on it and added a mat and frame. I cant wait to hang this in my house. It make a great house warming gift.

Thanks to Myra from Myra Kushon Photography for spending a few hours at HPD HQ a few weeks ago. Myra captured some great shots of Hampton Paper products.

Square Solid Stickers 27 for $18.00

Journal & Sketchpad $28.00

Luggage Tags 2 for $12.00

Santa Cards $2.95 each

Personalized Framed Print with Mat $75.00

Mini Me!

Love this new cupcake topper option for mini cupcakes. Great for parties for young children or for a dessert table.

Hampton Paper Small Stickers 1 1/2 inch diameter 30 stickers for $12.00

2011 is The Year of...

Inspiration Photo

Before Photo - This backyard is perfect for a pool!

It will probably not surprise you to hear I am very goal oriented. I have goals for all aspects of my life and my husband and I incorporated goal setting early on in our relationship and decided to have a big goal for each year. Some important ones include 1996 the year of the ring/engagement, 1997 the year of the wedding, 1998 was the year of the house, 2003 was the year of the baby, 2007 the year of the 2nd baby, 2010 was the year of the bigger house and 2011 is the year of the pool!

We have signed all the paperwork and we are waiting for the permits. Then then we will break ground. In the interim I will see what great things I can find for pool side! I love the Faraday line from Pottery Barn.

Planning another birthday, Thomas is 8!

Invitations have been sent out.

This will be ideal for the popcorn holders on the candy table.

This image will look great on the cookies.

I ordered these for the party favors. They are no longer printing this version so I had a mad rush over the weekend to get 30. I found them online at Barnes and Noble

People weren't kidding when they said once you have kids, time flies. I am shocked at the realization that my first born son will soon be 8. The last few weeks have been a stressful time as I struggled to think of what to do to celebrate his birthday. It has to be fabulous. I pulled the local family magazine to seek inspiration and came up short.

I thought it would be fun to do a movie party and incorporate some of the movie images from Hampton Paper. My brain went into over time on party favors that I could incorporate.

I have decided to do a movie screening at our house. Once option is to have the movie set up outside. Mid May we may have a backyard full of digging equipment for the pool but its definitely a great idea once we have the backyard organized and can serve as Plan B if the yard isnt dug up. The other option is to have it in the house on the big screen TV in the basement. Once that was decided upon, I needed to determine the movie. Yesterday morning, it came to me..... Diary of A Wimpy Kid. Perhaps the new one Roderick Rules will be out on DVD if not, the first one will do just fine. Have you seen these movies? Full of 6th-7th grade boy humor they are actually very funny and the kids laugh out loud during the entire show.

More updates to follow as we begin to plan this fun celebration.

On Thin Ice!

My new "go to gift" - personalized framed print

Invitation

Skates painted just for Lily's big day!

My assistant helping me assemble the party favors

Kim purchased these fun flavored chap sticks at Target

Prototype - looking good but something is missing....

New use for Place Cards - they are the perfect size to staple on top of a goody bag

I ran out to Michael's at the last minute to pick up this raffia for the goody bags. They needed a bit of color.

Candy Bar assembly is very easy - just a bit of tape is needed

This new image of iceskates arrived just in time for me to assist my friend Kim in making the party favors for her daughter Lily's 8th birthday. A very special day as we have been included in all the previous 7 celebrations! My assistant Jackson and I worked together to assemble the party favors. The entire ensemble was a huge hit with the kids! These are just my amateur pictures but professional ones including all the final products are on the way from Tina Bazala Photography. More to follow.

On My Bookshelf

Elizabeth Berg is one of my fav authors.

Just discovered Laura Moriarty -The Rest of Her Life is a must read

I've been a fan of MHC since the early 80s when I read Where are the Children. I had the rare opportunity to meet her in person at Barnes and Noble a few years back and she signed a book for me.

I was counting down the days till April 5th as I was anxiously awaiting the release date of new books by two of my favorite authors, Mary Higgins Clark and Elizabeth Berg. I just ordered them on Amazon and fortunatley just finished the new Kristin Hannah, Night Road that I picked up at Target on Saturday. Please be warned, do not attempt to read the Night Road during the week. I couldn't put it down and it lead to a late night and challenging moring making my TNT Gym Class at 6:00am.

Hello Cupcake!

I haven't met a cupcake I didn't like. While I can appreciate the finer things in life including gourmet cupcakes from places like Incredible Edibles, Cupcakes Actually, Red Velvet and Georgetown Cupcakes I am just as happy with ones from Harris Teeter. Regardless of where they come from, a fancy cupcake shop, high end bakery, grocery store or Dunkin Hines from my own kitchen they are even better when adorned with one of our new cupcake toppers. As always, any image is available. Perfect for any upcoming party on your calendar. Enjoy!

Hampton Paper Round Stickers 24 for $18.00